Mutsamudu, Comoros

Mutsamudu, Comoros: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Mutsamudu is the capital city of the island of Anjouan and the second-largest city in the Comoros, an archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean. As a landing point, Mutsamudu connects to the submarine cable network through two cables, making it one of the more connected landing points in the country. The cables serving Mutsamudu are principally regional and domestic in character, linking islands within the Comorian archipelago and extending to the nearby French territory of Mayotte.

The two cables landing at Mutsamudu — Avassa and the Comoros Domestic Cable System — together establish Anjouan's place within the inter-island connectivity framework of the Comoros. Rather than providing intercontinental reach directly, Mutsamudu's cable infrastructure focuses on linking the islands of the archipelago with one another and with neighboring Mayotte, forming a short-range regional corridor across this part of the western Indian Ocean.

Cables Landing at Mutsamudu

Avassa is a 260-kilometer submarine cable that reached ready-for-service status in 2016, currently at draft status. It connects landing points across Comoros and Mayotte, making it the cable that provides Mutsamudu with its only international link outside the Comorian national territory. At 260 kilometers, Avassa is a short regional system designed to bridge the narrow but significant maritime distance between these neighboring island territories.

Comoros Domestic Cable System reached ready-for-service status in 2010, making it the earliest submarine cable to land in Comoros and the first to serve Mutsamudu. This cable connects landing points entirely within Comoros, providing inter-island connectivity across the archipelago. It represents the foundational layer of submarine cable infrastructure for the country, and its landing at Mutsamudu has given Anjouan a domestic submarine connection since the cable network in Comoros first came into existence.

Regional Context

Among the four submarine cable landing points in Comoros, Mutsamudu ranks alongside Chindini in hosting two cables each, placing it in the upper tier of Comorian landing points by cable count. Moroni, the national capital, leads the country with four cables, while Fomboni Moheli hosts a single cable. Mutsamudu is therefore a secondary but meaningfully connected node within the national cable geography.

Network Role

Mutsamudu functions as a dual-cable landing point serving both the domestic inter-island network and the short-range international corridor to Mayotte. The Comoros Domestic Cable System ties Mutsamudu into the broader Comorian island network, while Avassa extends that reach outward to Mayotte. Together, these two cables mean that Anjouan's capital is not solely dependent on a single system for its submarine connectivity.

Within the Comorian submarine cable graph, Mutsamudu occupies a position of secondary importance relative to Moroni but remains one of only four landing points in the entire country. Its combination of a domestic cable and a short international link to Mayotte makes it a distinct node that bridges intra-archipelago and cross-border connectivity for the island of Anjouan.